First Image From The Final Hobbit Film, There And Back Again

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey isn't even in theaters yet, but you know how we fans are: we can't help but look to the future. And to be fair, the movie kind of asks you to do it, adapting just a portion of the famous book The Hobbit and saving a lot of the action for the second and third movies. The Hobbit: There And Back Again was once the title of the second film but is now the end of the trilogy, with a release set for July 18, 2014. And in giving us our first look at what's to come, they're skipping right over next December's The Desolation of Smaug and releasing an image of There And Back Again-- featuring a very familiar face. Take a look below:

Orlando Bloom's return to Middle Earth is no secret-- he was featured in one of Peter Jackson's on-set video blogs back in June-- and it makes perfect sense for him to be around, since elves are immortal. The brief Entertainment Weekly does give us our first sense of what Legolas's role in There And Back Again will be, as the film serves as a bridge story between the journey of The Hobbit and the massive battle of Lord of the Rings:

“He’s [elven king] Thranduil’s son, and Thranduil is one of the characters in The Hobbit, and because elves are immortal it makes sense Legolas would be part of the sequence in the Woodland Realm."

Standing there with Legolas is a less familiar face, with Luke Evans bringing in the character Bard the Bowman, a human living in Middle Earth. There's no word on whether the mullet has come back in style in Middle Earth, but since Bard is a character being specifically fleshed out for the film, I have to assume it's a deliberate choice somehow. I'm not sure if we should expect more glimpses at the upcoming two Hobbit movies soon, since the first one is still making its way into theaters, but enjoy this glimpse at the future for now.